Visa Inc. $V Shares Purchased by Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3,920.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,010 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,960 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 2.6% of Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 68.9% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,817 shares during the period. Capital & Planning LLC raised its position in Visa by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital & Planning LLC now owns 1,187 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 1,332 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $467,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Omega Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth about $210,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $323.87 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $341.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $348.23. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $299.00 and a 52 week high of $375.51. The stock has a market cap of $590.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.72, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.87.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on V. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 price target (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Macquarie decreased their price target on shares of Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $400.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,117. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 21,870 shares of company stock worth $7,467,233. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.